Category: Modelling materials
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That Blasted YouTube
Just when you thought hat you had the rock-solid, universal, standard-of-the-industry advice from every model making magazine and reference article….the YouTube brings more experts to you who decry generally perceived wisdom. This has just occurred with the business of Future floor polish and other clear coats, and now I am back at square one. Up…
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Thin, Thick, Or Solid
I cannot get a consistent answer from other modellers on a question about paints and varnishes. Not surprising – it is the part of the hobby that seems to have the most variability and the opinions echo the numbers of paint products and processes avaiable. Here’s the question – is it good, bad, or ugly…
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The New Direction Is Direction-finding
Idly surfing the net recently I noted that the RCAF station that I have taken as my inspiration was, for quite some time, a radar early warning facility as well as a training air base. This continued right through the period of time that my model layout depicts. I couldn’t resist the temptation to use…
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The Independent Mind
I spoke to a person who reads this column regularly. It was in his modelling room and he was in the midst of his favourite activity; making models for wargaming. In this he has a mind of his own and is not afraid to use it. He also uses everything else that can possibly come…
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The Danger To Navigation
I shall call him Bill. Bill The Weatherman. The danger to navigation that they are always speaking about on the News At Ten. I shouldn’t wonder if there wasn’t a file on him down at the Admiralty. You see, Bill wrecks things. Cheerfully, and with great abandon. He does it on a professional basis if…
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Hobby Money – Part Five – The Hidden Cost
Move over. I want to put something down. No, not there, it’s bigger than the space. Move over more. Look, just pop outside and sit on the grass. There’s not enough room in the house for you and my hobby at the same time… The elephant in the corner of the room that we never…
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In Praise Of White Glue
The humble bottle of white glue is the most wonderful invention of all time for the model workshop. It has the ability to bond nearly anything – in some cases well and in some cases badly. It rarely sticks the operator to his bench or coffee cup and can be wiped off under the table…
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I Want Electric Paint
I want fine-grain paint that stays liquid, spreadable and self levelling, and clings to vertical surfaces without sagging. I want it to stay in this condition until I pass a small electric current through it, whereupon I want it to set hard in ten seconds. Thereafter to be sandable and proof against solvents. Is this…
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The Costs Of A Decal
Well, that can’t be very much, can it? Try making your own and see… The idea of using the inkjet printer I already own to make custom decals was very attractive. I’m a dab hand with Photoshop Elements and as long as a design is reasonably simple, I can duplicate it. Even if it is…
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Expansion, Contraction, And You – Part Two
The basic idea today was to see how much warpage by expansion or contraction would be produced by various adhesives commonly used in the Little Workshop for scale model building. The substrates upon which they were to work were selected from common fibrous sheet material; good photo-quality bond paper, thin card, and matt board. These…
The Little World 